Newt Gingrich, Detroit Free Press, November 15, 2014
Click here to read the full op-ed.
“We are not getting the public safety that our billions should be providing us. In state after state, we have overused imprisonment, even for low-risk offenders. Incarceration has become the norm despite clear evidence that many nonviolent offenders can be held accountable and supervised more effectively through alternatives such as drug courts and job reporting centers. These sanctions are more effective, less costly and less destructive to families. It is time for Michigan to take note.
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Michigan should embrace smart, proven strategies that focus expensive prison beds on the truly bad guys while using less costly, more effective approaches to sanction lower level lawbreakers. That will mean safer streets at less cost to the taxpayers. That is getting it right on crime.”